I love all, but I think my kudos goes to Bob Dylan. He may not be the best singer of the three, but he is the best songwriter, he has made the best albums, and he is the most important to my understanding of music. I probably wouldn't even be listening to Springsteen, Bowie, or even Elvis, if it weren't for Bob.

I think Dylan is by far the most imaginative.
Springsteen second, and I don't know a lot of Bowie. Just been listening to Diamond Dogs and Pin Ups though. Can't get his Here Comes The Night and Growing Up (bonus Bruce track on Pin Ups) out of my head.

Bowie for me, too. Dylan may be a great songwriter, but I'm sorry, I just CANNOT get past that whiny, nasal voice of his. I had Bruce shoved down my throat for a few years by an ex-boyfriend of mine who could NOT get enough of him, and so, I'm just basically "Burnt Out On the Boss".

No prizes indeed. I couldn't care less if he churned out drivel for years in the 80s, everything he did from Space Oddity through to Scary Monsters was genius. How anyone can describe someone else as more imaginative, I don't know. Imaginative in different ways, sure, but not more. I love much of what I know of Bob and Bruce (which is a long way short of all or even half their output), but for me nothing comes close to the true magic of things that meant the world to you when you were under 20 and still do 20 years later. I had the good fortune of falling in love with Life On Mars aged nine and committing every note and word of Hunky Dory, Ziggy and Aladdin Sane to memory within a year or two of that, and think I was immensely lucky that this hppened.

Bollocks: had no idea Bowie had covered either of those. I've never got into Bowie collectorism at all, how could I when I don't have anything from between Scary Monsters and Black Tie, White Noise in the house (other than the hits off Let's Dance on a Best of)? But I'd like to hear those.

Bowie, no question. Springsteen is second. As for Mr. Zimmerman, at the risk of being banished from the board, his music never "hit me" like it has so many others. Don't get me wrong, I consider Dylan to be a true American troubador, but he really leaves me cold. Having said that, Blonde on Blonde and other works are masterpieces; but I've always kinda believed that you "had to be there" circa 1965-72 to have the music grab you.

As for Bowie, well suffice it to say we'd probably need a separate thread for me to stretch out on his catalogue. For the past year, Bowie's "Heathen" and WIWC (along with the resissues) have dominated my car stereo. If anyone is interested in an album-by-album breakdown on Bowie (for deciding what's essential), just let me know.

Ha' Penny,
Thank you for saying this (about Dylan) because I didn't have the guts to.

Ha' Penny Millionaire wrote:Bowie, no question. Springsteen is second. As for Mr. Zimmerman, at the risk of being banished from the board, his music never "hit me" like it has so many others. Don't get me wrong, I consider Dylan to be a true American troubador, but he really leaves me cold. Having said that, Blonde on Blonde and other works are masterpieces; but I've always kinda believed that you "had to be there" circa 1965-72 to have the music grab you.

SulkyGirl wrote:I CANNOT get past that whiny, nasal voice!

He may be a great songwriter and an American icon, but Sulky said it all.

I think there's beauty in Dylan's voice in how he seems fearlessly indifferent about judging its 'quality'. He just sings and however it comes out is however it comes out -- pure and extremely expressive. He accepts any and all possible uglyness so fully that in the honesty of that he manages to make it beautiful. He's no Caruso but that's no the point, he's got a great voice.

I am a huge fan of specific Dylan records, but not of his whole career. I think the following (obvious) choices are stunning:

Blood on the tracks
Blonde on Blonde
Highway 61 Revisited
Desire
Time Out of Mind
Love & Theft

I also really like some of his less-lauded records:

Oh Mercy
Slow Train Coming

And there are almost always a song or two on each record that I like a lot. But honestly, I feel like I have more than enough Dylan with the ones listed above and his greatest hits 1,2, and 3.

I apoligise for the toes I stepped on. I consider Dylan to be one of the greatest songwriters ever, if only for "With God On Our Side" and "Hurricaine." There are so many songs he's written that others have performed that are among my favorite songs of all time.

But I'd rather listen to Bowie just about any day.

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

I think Leonard Cohen said it best when he described hearing Dylan's voice to be like discovering the world of Picasso's art for the first time. It's startling because there is NO prior comparison to it. I truly believe that he is the greatest English-speaking white male vocalist of the twentieth century. For all of his towering genius as a songwriter, it is his voice that makes him an aristocracy of one as far as singer/songwriters go.

Bob Dylan's influence on popular music is incalculable. As a songwriter, he pioneered several different schools of pop songwriting, from confessional singer/songwriter to winding, hallucinatory, stream-of-conscious narratives. As a vocalist, he broke down the notions that in order to perform, a singer had to have a conventionally good voice, thereby redefining the role of vocalist in popular music. As a musician, he sparked several genres of pop music, including electrified folk-rock and country-rock. And that just touches on the tip of his achievements. Dylan's force was evident during his height of popularity in the '60s — the Beatles' shift toward introspective songwriting in the mid-'60s never would have happened without him — but his influence echoed throughout several subsequent generations. Many of his songs became popular standards, and his best albums were undisputed classics of the rock & roll canon. Dylan's influence throughout folk music was equally powerful, and he marks a pivotal turning point in its 20th century evolution, signifying when the genre moved away from traditional songs and toward personal songwriting. Even when his sales declined in the '80s and '90s, Dylan's presence was calculable.

why should any of these artists be better than the other? the three of them are highly reknown musicians that have delivered an amazing body of work over the years.
i must confess that in my younger years my heart was with springsteen´s music .....but as you grow up you learn how to open your mind ( or should i say ears) to new and exciting music...
songs like silly boy blue, soul love, moonage daydream(bowie), i´ll keep it with mine, dirge, if you see her say hello, it ain´t me babe (dylan), for you, n.y.c.serenade, meeting across the river, drive all night (springsteen) should not be regarded as better than any other song......just regarded as f***ing awesome songs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Springsteen has that working man's hero thing going for him. Dylan has that people's poet thing going for him. David Bowie has been a space alien, a charming, well dressed British gentleman, a mod, a dirty drum-and-bass slave, the GOBLIN King ("Labyrinth" rocks!), and many, many more. Sure, he hasn't always mastered his disguises, but at least he has the balls to change it up every few years.

Plus, he's a much sexier senior citizen than Dylan...

If there's one thing you can say about mankind--there's nothing kind about man

1) poppet is a major sucker for the UK lads. (lasses too, honestly. UK accent, poppet is your friend until you prove yourself unworthy.)

2) i've actually seen bowie in concert. of course, it was the (ewww!) Let's Dance tour, which i'm sure the world wishes had never happened, but hey, it WAS Bowie, and I was there. happy me.

3) i admit dylan's massive influence, but, i do not care for his work, in general. i know, i know, i've read what you've written, but it doesn't grab me.

4) bruce has grown on me more the older i get. when i was a kid, i thought bruce was crap, mostly because i got force fed him so very much by everyone around me. if you want your friends to like your music, do not force them to listen to it every time they visit, okay?

5) but, bowie is it. see #1 again. (oh, and i appreciate the avant garde. does bruce do avant garde???)